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An Act to prevent the exploitation of children by makingindecent photographs of them; and to penalise thedistribution, showing and advertisement of such indecentphotographs. [20th July 1978]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by andwith the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual andTemporal, and Commons, in this present Parliamentassembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

[Indecent photographs of children.]

I.- (1) It is an offence for a person-

(a) to take, or permit to be taken, any indecent photograph of a child (meaning in this Act a person under the ageof 16) ;or

(b) to distribute or show such indecent photographs ; or

(c) to have in his possession such indecent photographs,with a view to their being distributed or shown byhimself or others ; or

(d) to publish or cause to be published any advertisementlikely to be understood as conveying that the advertiserdistributes or shows such indecent photographs, orintends to do so.

(2) For purposes of this Act, a person is to be regarded asdistributing an indecent photograph if he parts with possessionof it to, or exposes or offers it for acquisition by, another person.

(3) Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not beinstituted except by or with the consent of the Director of PublicProsecutions.

(4) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection(1)(b) or (c), it shall be a defence for him to prove-

(a) that he had a legitimate reason for distributing or showingthe photographs or (as the case may be) having themin his possession ; or

(b) that he had not himself seen the photographs and did notknow, nor had any cause to suspect, them to beindecent.

[1933 c. 12.]

(5) References in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933(except in sections 15 and 99) to the offences mentioned inSchedule 1 to that Act shall include an offence under subsection(1) (a) above.

(6) Offences under this Act shall be included-

[1870 c. 52.]

(a) in the list of extradition crimes contained in Schedule 1 to the Extradition Act 1870 ; and

[1967 c. 68.]

(b) among the descriptions of offences set out in Schedule 1 to the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 ;and sections 17 and 22 of the 1870 Act and sections 16 and 17of the 1967 Act (application to Channel Islands, Isle of Man andUnited Kingdom dependencies) extend to this subsection.

[52 c. 67.; 1956 c. 69]

(7) In paragraph 1 of the Schedule to the Visiting Forces Act1952 (offences against the person in the case of which a memberof a visiting force is in certain circumstances not liable to be triedby a United Kingdom court), after sub-paragraph (b)(viii)(inserted by the Sexual Offences Act 1956) there shall be added-" (ix) section 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act1978 ".

[Evidence]

2.-(1) On a charge of an offence under section 1(1)(a) of thisAct, the wife or husband of the accused shall be competent togive evidence at every stage of the proceedings, whether for thedefence or for the prosecution, and whether the accused ischarged solely or jointly with any other person :

Provided that-

(a) the wife or husband shall not be compellable either togive evidence or, in giving evidence, to disclose anycommunications made to her or him during the marriageby the accused ; and

(b) the failure of a wife or husband of the accused to giveevidence shall not be made the subject of any commentby the prosecution.

1898 c. 36. This subsection shall not affect section 1 of the CriminalEvidence Act 1898 (competency of witnesses in criminal cases),or any case where the wife or husband of the accused may at Protection of Children Act 1978 c. 37 3common law be called as a witness without the consent of theaccused.

(2) In section 27(4) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 c. 37.1963 (definition of " sexual offence " for purposes of provisionsof that section about calling children's evidence), after " theIndecency with Children Act 1960 " there shall be inserted " orsection 1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978 ".

(3) In proceedings under this Act a person is to be takenas having been a child at any material time if it appears fromthe evidence as a whole that he was then under the age of 16.

3.-(1) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under this Act and it is proved that the offence occurred with the con- sent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on thepart of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of thebody, or any person who was purporting to act in any suchcapacity he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to beguilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded againstand punished accordingly.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by itsmembers, subsection (1) shall apply in relation to the acts anddefaults of a member in connection with his functions of managementas if he were a director of the body corporate.

Entry, search and seizure.

4.-(1) The following applies where a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath, laid by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions or by a constable, that there isreasonable ground for suspecting that, in any premises in thepetty sessions area for which he acts, there are indecent photographsof children and that such photographs-

(a) are or have been taken there ; or

(b) are or have been shown there, or are kept there with aview to their being distributed or shown.

(2) The justice may issue a warrant under his hand authorisingany constable to enter (if need be by force) and search the premiseswithin fourteen days from the date of the warrant, and to seizeand remove any articles which he believes (with reasonable cause)to be or include indecent photographs of children taken or shownon the premises, or kept there with a view to their being distributedor shown.

(3) Articles seized under the authority of the warrant, and notreturned to the occupier of the premises, shall be brought before ajustice of the peace acting for the same petty sessions area as thejustice who issued the warrant.

(4) This section and section 5 below apply in relation to anystall or vehicle, as they apply in relation to premises, withthe necessary modifications of references to premises acid thesubstitution of references to use for references to occupation.

Forfeiture.

5.-(1) The justice before whom any articles are brought inpursuance of section 4 above may issue a summons to theoccupier of the premises to appear on a day specified in thesummons before a magistrates' court for that petty sessions areato show cause why they should not be forfeited.

(2) If the court is satisfied that the articles are in fact indecentphotographs of children, taken on the premises or shown thereor kept there with a view to their being distributed or shown, thecourt shall order them to be forfeited ; but if the person summoneddoes not appear, the court shall not make an order unlessservice of the summons is proved.

(3) In addition to the persons summoned, any other personbeing the owner of the articles brought before the court, or thepersons who made them, or any other person through whosehands they had passed before being seized, shall be entitled toappear before the court on the day specified in the summons toshow cause why they should not be forfeited.

(4) Where any of the articles are ordered to, be forfeited undersubsection (2), any person who appears, or was entitled to appear,to show cause against the making of the order may appeal to theCrown Court.

(5) If as respects any articles brought before it the court doesnot order forfeiture, the court may if it thinks fit order the personon whose information the warrant for their seizure was issued topay such costs as the court thinks reasonable to any person whohas appeared before it to show cause why the photographs shouldnot be forfeited ; and costs ordered to be paid under this subsectionshall be recoverable as a civil debt.

(6) Where indecent photographs of children are seized undersection 4 above, and a person is convicted under section 1(1) of offences in respect of those photographs, the court shall orderthem to be forfeited.

(7) An order made under subsection (2) or (6) above (includingan order made on appeal) shall not take effect until the expiration of the ordinary time within which an appeal may be instituted or,where such an appeal is duly instituted, until the appeal is finally decided or abandoned ; and for this purpose-

(a) an application for a case to be stated or for leave toappeal shall be treated as the institution of an appeal ;and

(b) where a decision on appeal is subject to a further appeal,the appeal is not finally decided until the expiration ofthe ordinary time within which a further appeal may beinstituted or, where a further appeal is duly instituted,until the further appeal is finally decided or abandoned.

6.-(1) Offences under this Act shall be punishable either on Punishments.conviction on indictment or on summary conviction.

(2) A person convicted on indictment of any offence underthis Act shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of not morethan three years, or to a fine or to both.

(3) A person convicted summarily of any offence under thisAct shall be liable-

(a) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months ;or

(b) to a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum for the purposesof section 28 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 1977 c. 45.(punishment on summary conviction of offences triableeither way: £1,000 or other sum substituted by orderunder that Act), or to both.

7.-(1) The following subsections apply for the interpretation interpretation.of this Act.

(2) References to an indecent photograph include an indecentfilm, a copy of an indecent photograph or film, and an indecentphotograph comprised in a film.

(3) Photographs (including those comprised in a film) shall,if they show children and are indecent, be treated for all purposesof this Act as indecent photographs of children.

(4) References to a photograph include the negative as wellas the positive version.

(5) " Film " includes any form of video-recording.

[Similar provision for Northern Ireland. 1974 c. 28.]

8. An Order in Council under paragraph 10)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 1974 (legislation for Northern Ireland in the interim period) which contains a statement that it operates only so as to make for Northern Ireland provision cor-responding to this Act --

(a) shall not be subject to paragraph 1(4) and (5) of thatSchedule (affirmative resolution of both Houses ofParliament) ; but

(b) shall be subject to annulment by a resolution of eitherHouse.

[Short title, extent and commencement]

9.-(1) This Act may be cited as the Protection of Children

(2) This Act except section 1(6) shall not extend to Scotlandand except for that subsection, and subject also to section 8 shallnot extend to Northern Ireland.

(3) Section 8 of this Act shall come into force forthwith, butotherwise this Act shall come into force at the expiration of onemonth beginning with the date it is passed.

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